Question for the machinists out there...
 

Through an unfortunate turn of events, just another boohoo poor pity me story that is all to common so I won't go into it, I found myself in Alabama and (there is always something good that comes out of bad situations"thumbsup") have the opportunity to go back to school. I've always wanted to be a machinist, so I've enrolled in a local program and in 2-ish (hopefully less) I'll be on my way. My question to you machinists out there is this... Should I go manual or CNC?

I don't really give a damn about the money, so I'm not particularly interested in "dude you can make more..." kind of comments. What I'm concerned with is which one will give me the best foundation to build upon and become a good machinist so I can go on to do my own thing after I get some time under my belt.

I'm doing a 2 year associates degree in CNC and manual machining. From my limited amount of knowledge I would say learn EVERYTHING you can about both, things will cross-over and make you a better machinist no matter what you do. Then you can decide what you want to do. Just learn everything you can about every machine you can. You will be much happier when your done and you'll be amazed at all the options and types of thing you can do. People who run CNC's all day seem to love to run manuals for a break. An people who run manual equipment like CNC's. What ever you run its going to get repetitive and boring. If you can run a variety of machines your going to be more valuable to any company and have the ability to work all over the shop. "thumbsup"

Just my 2 cents more experienced folks will chime in I know there are a lot here.

Thanks for the reply/advice trost. How much longer do you have left in school?

About a year. Like I said I have a very limited amount of experience this is just what I have learned so far.

Cool man, I start relevant coursework next semester. Had to take BS core classes this fall, at least they'll be out of the way.

Limited is far better than my nonexistent, thanks for your time.

I would really focus on your manual skills first. Get a solid foundation on how the machines work, tool set ups, tooling, cutting speeds, ect...CNC is all great untill the machine breaks down, then what do you do?

I have found that working on a milling machine or lathe, for me at least is quite intiuitive. The learning curve is quite steep at first but once you get some of the basics down everything really opens up pretty quickly. Try to actually learn what your doing, not just being a button pusher...the more you actually know the better products you can create.

AShton

Thanks for your input Ashton.

I have an associate in CNC programing. We started out having to learn all the manual machines first. before we even started on any of the CNC machines. And beprepared to write out allot of programs by hand and crunch allot of numbers. There is allot that goes in to writing out code with out using a computer for any of it. Then once you learn matercam you will right the same program that took you days to write out by hand in minutes.

Get your manual skills down first and learn to read G code:mrgreen: If you know the machines language its a lot easier to figure out what when wrong when you move in to CNC!

You have to have a solid foundation with manual machines before you start dealing with CNC. When I was in school manual first CNC later. You will never stop learning with CNC. I also have my associates degree in machine technology.(manual/cnc machinist)

Manual it is then, thanks guys."thumbsup"

Yeh. I would go manual. I've got a degree in tool & die and now I do CNC. Most of the curriculum is manual work, but in the degree program I went through they also go into CNC a little. I would look at it like manual machines are like driving a manual car. If you can drive a manual car you can drive a automatic. But just because you can drive a automatic doesnt necessarily mean you can drive a manual. Get what i'm saying.

Ive been machining since i was very young kid, grew up in a machine shop, Ive worked as a journeyman manual machinist as an adult for 7 or 10 years and then went after cnc machining aggressively. and i like that i have a manual background and i think i have a sence of feel that you cant get if you have never ran manual machines BUT

My Brother, who didnt go the same route as me as a youngin, he is now a advanced cnc programmer and top tier cnc machinist and he kicks some serious butt and he has never ran any manual machines. so you can go both ways.

also, i would like to add, 15 years ago this was still a real good trade with good wages, but manufacturing is getting destroyed in the united states, and will never be good again untill they fix china's currency peg on the us dollar and start taxing chineese imports like they tax our exports.

You can still get good paying jobs in cnc machining, but you need to be in the top 1 percent, or more likely you will just be an operator or setup man.